THE GOLD RUSH (1942 rerelease with narration)

(Original version released 1925)
With Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, Malcolm Waite, Georgia Hale
Written and Directed by Charles Chaplin
Silent, Black and White
Reviewed by JB

'She obviously doesn't get my genius!' thought the Little Fellow      The film for which Chaplin wanted to be remembered, THE GOLD RUSH, in which The Little Tramp suffers hardship and heartache while searching for gold in the Yukon, is much revered by film buffs and has often been called Chaplin's greatest.  It features two of the comedian's most fondly recalled routines, "The Shoe Dinner" and "The Dance of the Rolls".  While both are amusing and perfectly executed, neither scene is a favorite of mine, and for a long time, THE GOLD RUSH was my least favorite silent Chaplin feature.

     I think it was because in reading about Chaplin and silent movies over the years in general, it was drummed into me that "The Shoe Dinner" (in which a starving Chaplin treats a boiled shoe as if were a turkey dinner) and "The Dance of the Rolls" (where Chaplin uses forks stuck in two dinner roles as a pair of dancing feet) were the be-all and end-all of silent comedy, masterpieces that could not be topped.  When I finally got around to seeing them, I was not all that impressed.  I guess I could never get past my disappointment to judge the whole film by itself.  

     Now I have.  THE GOLD RUSH may still be my least favorite silent Chaplin film, but I like it more than I used to.  While I still prefer Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, I have always been a sucker for Chaplin's expressions, and still marvel at how much he can express with just the subtlest movements of his eyes and mouth.  Some of the best moments in THE GOLD RUSH feature Chaplin doing almost nothing.  For instance, there is a great scene in which, having been told by the girl he loves that she will be back New Year's Eve, the Little Tramp does a dance of joy in his little cabin, tearing up his pillow and sending feathers flying all over the place. Of course, this is the moment the girl chooses to come back to get her forgotten gloves. The tramp doesn't bother to explain why there are feathers everywhere, including on his clothes and in his hair, he just politely inquires what she wants, retrieves the gloves and sends her on her way.  After which, he stands with a blank look on his face for several seconds, and yet we can read every thought in his mind, and there are dozens of them.

     Many of the effects in THE GOLD RUSH are utterly unconvincing, such as the models used to represent a cabin teetering on the edge of a mountain.  Yet "inside" the cabin, Chaplin and his prospecting partner (played by the huge and funny Mack Swain) are so expert at convincing us that they are indeed in mortal danger, the scene is still funny in spite of itself.  (Buster Keaton would have used a real cabin, a real mountain and risked his life twenty times over in a scene like this).  The timing of Charlie and Mack's movements is perfectly choreographed.  Of course, that choreography probably took something like 73 takes before Chaplin was happy with the scene, but that is what makes the best of Charlie Chaplin so good. 

     There is a love story in the middle of the film, as Charlie falls hard for a dance hall girl named Georgia (Georgia Hale).  As a prelude to the more touching CITY LIGHTS, it shows Chaplin fully integrating comedy, drama and heartache, as he did in THE KID.  As so often happens, he allows just enough emotion to occur in a scene before topping it off with a gag.  For example, when he hears some people having fun outside his cabin, he opens it up and receives a snowball right to the face.  Then he sees Georgia and his heart swells with love.  Then, from out of nowhere, he gets another snowball to the face. Timed, like the best of silent comedy, with the precision of a pocket watch.

     Opinions are mixed about this 1942 rerelease of THE GOLD RUSH.  In order to make it more palatable to audiences not used to silent films, Chaplin removed all the intertitles and replaced them with his own narration.  Sometimes it is intrusive, sometimes it is fine.  He also edited the film, even changing the original ending.  Considering he's the man who kept the spirit of silent movies alive well into the 1930s with CITY LIGHTS and MODERN TIMES, you would think Chaplin would have had more faith in his own art and in his fans. 4 - JB

Charlie Chaplin     The Age of Comedy